‘Jailed rail officer used `6.36L on travel’
An RTI query has made a startling revelation about suspended railway board member (staff) Mahesh Kumar, the prime accused in cash for promotion scam.
The RTI queries have revealed that Mr Kumar constantly misused his position and spent resources lavishly while working as general manager of the Western Railway in Mumbai.
An RTI query has uncovered that Mr Kumar travelled almost 100 km daily in Mumbai while working as Western Railway GM.
The response furnished by deputy general manager Aditya Kumar said that Mr Kumar consumed almost 1,806 litres of petrol in 2012.
“Normally, a GM works around 180 days in the headquarters, as they have to travel outside the city; they also avail the different leaves, including two weekly offs in each week,” said a highly-placed source in the Western Railway. This implies that Mr Kumar consumed almost 10 litres petrol per day. “If the GM was travelling 100 km each day, when did he get the time to work?” questioned Anees Khan, who filed the RTI, noting that the distance between Mr Kumar’s residence and office is merely six km.
Additional query has revealed that Mr Kumar spent `6,36,661 on air travel within the country in a year. However, the headquarters refused to give information on the money spent on international travel by Mr Kumar. “This is complete misuse of the people’s money. It’s ironic that a railway GM prefers to travel by air,” said rail activist Samir Jhaveri.
The information revealed by the RTI also shows that Mr Kumar had asked the RPF to deploy six jawans to keep vigil at his plush bungalow, whereas the norm is to provide two jawans, if the said person is not under any threat. Mr Kumar is currently lodged in Delhi jail and the CBI has charged him as one of main accused in the chargesheet, filed a few days ago.
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